


Seasons of Hope

by Alexis_Rockford



Category: House M.D.
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Apologies, Chicago (City), Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Season/Series 06, Surprise Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-17 23:15:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16983642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexis_Rockford/pseuds/Alexis_Rockford
Summary: "You,” he sputtered, “Do you really think you’d be anything without me? Do you think you’d be sitting there all smug and comfortable behind that stupid desk if I hadn’t put you there?”She was silent for a moment, and he thought he had won. Then, she stood, leaned forward, and looked him square in the eyes. “Yes.”House visits Cameron at her new place of employment with every intention of convincing her to rejoin his team. But both she and the season have a few surprises in store for him.Originally written in 2010 for a Hameron Secret Santa fic exchange.





	Seasons of Hope

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cassandra_Elise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cassandra_Elise/gifts).



Christmastime had returned once again to the greater Chicago area. One saw it everywhere from the storefronts on the Miracle Mile to the lit-up trees at the annually occurring McCormick Tribune Ice Rink in Millennium Park. There was no way to escape it. For many people, citizens and visitors alike, this inundation with the spirit of joy and merriment was quite a pleasant experience. But for one man in particular, all the holly and inflatable snowmen was just another source of annoyance.  
  
Gregory House turned up the collar of his leather biker’s jacket as high as it would go, but he still couldn’t manage to keep the icy wind from cutting into his skin like a scalpel. As he entered the front doors of Chicago Hope Hospital, he stamped the snow off his boots, wondering idly if this storm would be hitting Princeton-Plainsboro soon. He looked around and scowled. Even the waiting room of this prestigious institute couldn’t escape the disgrace of a full-size Christmas tree complete with a plethora of packages beneath. He smirked, knowing full well that the boxes were empty. What a joke, just like the rest of this ridiculous season.  
  
He turned his focus to the reception area. The smart thing would be for him to ask the nurse at the station where he could find Doctor Cameron, but when did he ever do things the easy way? Instead, he did a quick scan to make sure no one was watching and then limped down the hallway toward the ER.  
  
As soon as he pushed the door open, he knew he had made a mistake. Doctors and nurses were rushing around like crazy, tending to patients in various stages of dress and consciousness.  
  
“Who let you back here?” barked a short African-American woman in a long white coat. “Only the medical staff is allowed back here.”  
  
House sighed and reached into his coat to show her his credentials. “’Doctor Gregory House, M.D.’” she read. “Well, that’s nice, honey, but you are not employed by this hospital, so scoot!”  
  
“I’ll take care of this,” said the voice he had been waiting for months to hear. He turned around and beheld Allison Cameron, standing with one hand on her hip and the other on a clipboard. Behind her was a small group of awkward-looking medical students.  
  
“Cameron!” he exclaimed in fake surprise. “Long time no see!” He spent a long minute looking at her. God, she was as beautiful as he’d remembered from her golden hooker hair to her cute orthopedic shoes.  
  
Cameron merely gave him a withering stare. “What are you doing here, House?”  
  
“I came to check out your new place of work,” he said, swinging his cane in the direction of the interns. “Aw, come on!” he exclaimed. “Not only are you slaving away in the ER, but you’ve been demoted to an intern? That’s just cruel.” He waved flippantly at her associates who didn’t return the gesture.  
  
Cameron could feel her cheeks glowing in spite of herself. “Actually,” she started, between gritted teeth. “I’m the head of diagnostics around here.” At this point, she lowered her voice to a whisper. “ _They’re my ducklings!_ ”  
  
A cold shock rippled through him. Could this possibly be the same sweet girl who had come to work for him five years earlier? The girl who adored him and thought everything he did was right? Was it possible that she didn’t need him now?  
  
By this point, Cameron had given her ducklings instructions and they had scattered to various parts of the ER. “Come on,” she said quietly, touching his arm. “Let me show you my office.”  
  
Another shock ran though him, this one of a decidedly different kind. He nodded mutely and followed her out into the hallway.

House wasn’t sure if he liked her office. It was neat and organized and clean. And big. Much too big for a youngster like her.  
  
She sat down in her swivel chair and looked at him expectantly. “Why are you here?” she asked, her patience wearing thin. “What do you want?”  
  
There were so many answers to that question that he didn’t know where to begin. He briefly thought of telling her the truth, how Thirteen’s sabbatical had left a temporary opening on his team and that he’d hoped she’d fill it. Of course that was before when he thought she had a thankless and pathetic position in the ER. Now that he knew that she was head of diagnostics, he wasn’t so sure she’d be willing to jump back to Princeton-Plainsboro.  
  
“It’s not like you to be this quiet,” she continued, spinning slightly in her chair. “Spit it out, House.”  
  
House’s eyes followed her as she spun back and forth back and forth. “I, um,” he started intelligently. “I came to-” And then a word escaped his lips that he never expected he’d say. “- apologize.” It tasted foreign and unfamiliar in his mouth.  
  
Cameron’s eyebrows shot up. “Really,” she said incredulously.  
  
“Well, OK, that wasn’t my original intention,” he said quickly, “but I figured ‘What the hell? It’s Christmas.’” Damn this was awkward.  
  
“And what exactly are you apologizing for?” she challenged, her finger delicately playing with the rim of her empty coffee cup.  
  
House cringed. She _would_ make this difficult. “Oh, I don’t know...for ruining your marriage, for being a bad influence on Foreman and Chase, for being an ass in general? Take your pick.”  
  
Cameron rolled her eyes. “What kind of an apology is that?”  
  
House, who had been feeling slightly nervous up to this point, suddenly got pissed. “The only kind you’re going to get, you ingrate!” he snapped, marching right up to her desk. “You,” he sputtered, “Do you really think you’d be anything without me? Do you think you’d be sitting there all smug and comfortable behind that stupid desk if I hadn’t put you there?”  
  
She was silent for a moment, and he thought he had won. Then, she stood, leaned forward, and looked him square in the eyes. “Yes.”  
  
They were so close that he could taste her delicious scent. He had never known what it was that made her smell so good, but whatever it was, she still had it. He didn’t deserve her, he never had. Sighing deeply, he turned to leave the office, hitting the lights as he did.  
  
He was just about out the door when he heard, “Greg?”  
  
He turned, his heart beating wildly with a hope he should never be allowed to have. “Yes?”  
  
She swallowed hard as she walked toward him. “I forgive you,” she whispered as she kissed his cheek the same way he had many months before. He felt the dampness as their skin met, unsure if the tears were hers or his own. As he turned his face slowly, his lips found hers and they mingled with an eagerness and a joy that he hadn’t felt in a lifetime. He never wanted it to end, but finally they pulled apart, breathless and heaving.  
  
“Now what?” he asked rather testily as she smoothed back her mussed hair.  
  
“Now we begin.”  
  
It was the season of hope, after all. Anything could happen.


End file.
